WV-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest Volume 00 : Issue 65 Today's Topics: #1 BIO: ALFRED N. HUMPHREYS, Barbour [Valerie & Tommy Crook To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <3.0.5.32.20000319002846.0086c930@trellis.net> Subject: BIO: ALFRED N. HUMPHREYS, Barbour County WV Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 357 ALFRED N. HUMPHREYS is a mining engineer by pro- fession, has been identified with practical mine operations in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and, briefly, in the North- west, but the bulk of his work has been done since he became a resident of Philippi. He has done much to de- velop the coal measures of the Tygart Valley. Mr. Humphreys was born in Luzerne County, Pennsyl- vania, February 15, 1880. His grandfather, Robert Humph- reys, was of Welsh ancestry and probably a native of Wales. He married Catherine Emerich, whose grandfather, John Emerich, was a partner of John Jacob Astor in New York City, where large landed interests are said to belong to John's heirs. The children of Eobert Humphreys and wife were: Alfred N., Sr., John, Frank, Mrs. Christian Bach and Mrs. Joseph Fogel. Alfred N. Humphreys, Sr., was born at Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, had a college training, and as a young man entered the profession and business of coal operating and mine engineering in Eastern Pennsylvania. Eventually he became general manager of some large coal properties, and had extensive financial interests in them. He died at Pittsburgh in 1910, at the age of sixty-three. He was a republican, a Knight Templar Mason and Shriner and a member of the Episcopal Church. He married Elizabeth Gillespie, who is still living at Pittsburgh. Her father, John Gillespie, was a merchant in Luzerne County, Penn- sylvania, where he died in early life. Alfred N. Humphreys, Jr., was the only son of his parents, and his seven sisters were: Mary H., wife of George F. Brendlinger, of Pitts- burgh; Miss Harriet R., who died in 1909; Eliza G., wife of Charles S. Sowash, who died in Bakersfield, California, in 1912; Miss Lenore G., of Pittsburgh; Miss Florence, of Pittsburgh; Miss Anna, of New York City; and Constance C., wife of J. Frederick Knoblock, of Chicago. Alfred N. Humphreys spent the first ten years of his life in the place of his birth, and then grew up at Irwin, Pennsylvania. He was educated in the public schools there, and took a coal and mine engineering course in Fordham University of New York. From university he went into the service of the Westmoreland Coal Company of Irwin as an engineer, and did general engineering work at the several mines of that company for five years. He per- formed work of a similar character two years for the Ellsworth Coal Company in Washington County, Pennsyl- vania. From there he came into the New River field of West Virginia, and for about a year as superintendent of two 500-foot shaft mines of the New River Coal Company. Following this came his experience in the Northwest, at Billings, Montana, where for a year be was superintendent of the Bituminous Coal Company's mines. Returning to West Virginia, Mr. Humphreys then established his home and business headquarters at Philippi. He operated at Philippi a property under the name of The Humphreys Collieries Company, continuing for about three years and increasing the daily production to 300 tons. This property was opened in 1908, and Mr. Hum- phreys was president of the company and is still in that office. Since 1912 the property has been leased to the Humphreys Coal Company. He was associated with several other enterprises, and in 1919 opened property two miles below Philippi, under the name of the A. N. Humphreys Coal Company, of which he is the active head. Mr. Humphreys is a member of the city council of Philippi, a member of the Kiwanis Club, is a republican, having east his first vote for Colonel Roosevelt in 1904, and, while a man of unusual social qualities, he is not affiliated with any secret order. At Philippi, in September, 1910, Mr. Humphreys mar- ried Miss Grace Heatherly, daughter of James E. and Laura E. Heatherly. Her mother is still living at Philippi. Mrs. Humphreys was born at "The Pines," the country home of the Heatherly family near Philippi. Her father was one of the extensive farmers in this region. Mrs. Humphreys is a graduate of Broaddus College. Her sister is Mrs. E. A. Bowers, and her only brother is Wayne W. Heatherly. Mrs. Humphreys is active in the Missionary Baptist Church. ______________________________X-Message: #3 Date: Sun, 19 Mar 2000 00:31:46 -0500 From: Valerie & Tommy Crook To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <3.0.5.32.20000319003146.0083c100@trellis.net> Subject: BIO: JOHN McKENZIE, Barbour County WV Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 359 JOHN McKENZIE is a Scotch Canadian, and the back- ground of his early life and experience was a thrifty farm on the north shore of Lake Erie. With the characteristic enterprise of his race he fitted himself for complete exer- cise of all the talents he possessed. He became a teacher and then qualified himself for the ministry. He has sev- eral degrees from colleges and universities, marking stages in his training for usefulness. For the past thirteen years West Virginia has been the scene of his activities. He has found time to do regular church work as a pastor, but the community at Philippi at least particularly appreciates the work he has done in building up a thoroughly modern and efficient school system for that city. Mr McKenzie was born at Chatham, Ontario, July 20, 1874, son of Murdoch and Ann (Wilkinson) McKenzie, Loth of Scotch ancestry. His grandfather, Murdoch Mc- Kenzie, was born in the Scotch Highlands, representing one of the historic clans of the country, and on coming to America settled near Chatham, Ontario, and devoted the rest of his life to the farm. His son Murdoch was also a farmer, and died in August, 1920, at the age of eighty- two. Of his eight children six are still living: John; Kenneth, a farmer at the old home; Alexander and Roland, also farmers near Chatham; Etta, wife of Robert Hender- son; and Miss Mary Belle. While a boy on the Ontario farm John McKenzie at- tended public school in a country district where the average term was ten and a half months. After completing his work in the Dover public school he entered the Chatham Collegiate Institute, finished the course there, and then trained for teaching in a model school at Chatham. For several years he taught in public school work, and followed that with a year in the Hamilton Normal School at Ham- ilton as a student of his chosen profession. He attended Toronto University one year, and after an intermission of two years, during which he did high school work, he re- turned to the University and graduated A. B. in 1903, being one of the honor men of his class. In preparation for the ministry Mr. McKenzie pursued his theological studies in Knox College of Toronto tor three years, grad- uating in 1906. In that year he was ordained minister of a church at Hornby, Ontario, and preached there two years. In the fall of 1908, continuing his higher educa- tion, he entered Yale University at New Haven, and in 1909 received his Master of Arts degree and the Bachelor of Divinity degree from the divinity school. With this preparation Mr. McKenzie came to West Vir- ginia to take up the substantial work of his life. In September, 1909, he began his duties as a member of the faculty of Da vis and Elkins College of Elkins. For six years he held the chair of English in that school and for two years was dean. He left the college to become prin- cipal and superintendent of the public schools of Belington. During the next four years he proved his ability as an administrator and as a progressive factor .in educational work by adding to the curriculum of the school's agricul- ture and commercial courses. In September, 1919, Mr. McKenzie answered the call to a new field of labor at Philippi, as superintendent of the public schools. Philippi high school at that time was rated in the "second class," the high school work being done by two teachers and a three-year course. The school building was without any modern facilities, and had been constructed a number of years before at a cost of about $20.000. In the two school years since Mr. McKenzie took charge, Philippi has been given "first class rating" among the schools of the state. There are now five teachers in charge of the high school program, which is a four-year course. Additions to the course under Mr. McKenzie have been science, chemistry and commercial subjects, while plans are now under way for the establishment of a domes- tic science course and then manual training. On the site of the old building stands a modern school structure which cost the community $125,000. It contains a gymnasium 43 by 85 feet, an auditorium seating 700 people, and about $800 have been expended in addition to laboratory equip- ment and for 1922 $400 were appropriated for books and periodicals for the school library. It is the policy of the school to give the students some vocational guidance for their future work, and many of the graduates since Mr. McKenzie took charge have continued their education in higher institutions. In the ministry Mr. McKenzie did his first work in West Virginia as a supply in Randolph County, and his first regular pastorate was at Beverly in the same county. He has served as pastor of the Presbyterian Church of Philippi, and has been pastor at Belington for seven years. At Hesper, Ontario, in July, 1910, Mr. McKenzie mar- ried Mary Christina Gilchrist, a daughter of Peter Gil- christ, also of Scotch ancestry. Her parents were born in Scotland and were Canadian farmers. Mr. and Mrs. McKenzie have three children, Margaret, John and William. ______________________________X-Message: #4 Date: Sun, 19 Mar 2000 00:30:49 -0500 From: Valerie & Tommy Crook To: WV-FOOTSTEPS-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <3.0.5.32.20000319003049.00874100@trellis.net> Subject: BIO: WINFIELD SCOTT WILSON, Barbour County WV Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 358-359 WINFIELD SCOTT WILSON. To Winfield Scott Wilson of Philippi belongs the credit of a long and active business career. For many years he was a traveling salesman over West Virginia territory, was a merchant himself, and now, when past three-score and ten, he finds congenial work in looking after his interests as a farmer, a vocation to which he was reared. It is doubtful it in all West Virginia there is a family tree with greater and more important ramifications than that of the Wilsons. As commanded in the Scriptures, they have multiplied and replenished the earth and have sent their representatives to all parts of the United States. If all the descendants of the first American ancestor could be mobilized, an army of Wilsons would entrain. They have been a family intellectually strong and physically vigorous, and have proved themselves worthy of the name "genuine Americans." The direct line of ancestry runs back to Scotland, where David Wilson was born about 1650. His son, David, Jr., was born in the same country about 1685. The latter joined the forces opposed to the Government in the Scotch rebellion of 1715, and when his comrades were defeated and the rebellion crushed he fled to Ireland. He was living in Ireland when his son, William, the founder of this branch of the family in America, was born. William Wilson was born in Ireland November 16, 1722. As a young man he came to the American colonies and was one of the pioneers in the Alleghany Mountain Dis- trict of Western Virginia. About 1746, after coming to America, he married Elizabeth Blackburn, a daughter of Archibald Blackburn. She was bom in Ulster Province of Ireland February 22, 1725. After their marriage they established their home on Trout Run, Hardy County, in what is now West Virginia. William Wilson died Jan- uary 12, 1801, and his wife, on May 2, 1806. They had eleven children, and among them were some distinguished characters, particularly John and Benjamin, both of whom represented Randolph County as delegates to the Virginia Convention of 1788 at Richmond, to ratify the Constitution of the United States. John Wilson was the first county clerk of Randolph County, in 1787, its first circuit clerk, in 1809, and the first justice of the peace, in 1787, and in the same year served as a major of the Virginia Militia, was county assessor the next year and sheriff of the county in 1798. His brother, Col. Benjamin Wilson, was in com- mand of the militia in this part of West Virginia during the Revolution, had charge of the defense of the frontier against the Indians and had many encounters with them. He was the first clerk of Harrison County, and that office he held almost forty years. His chief service to his coun- try was the contribution he made to its population of good men and women. He was the father of twenty-nine children. The representative of the second generation in whom this sketch is particularly interested was William Wilson, Jr., who was born in Hardy County, February 8, 1754. He passed away after a long and useful life on January 1, 1851. For many years he was chairman of the Randolph County Court, and was the county's representative in the Virginia Legislature. He married a sister of the old Indian fighter and Revolutionary war veteran, Jonas Friend, whose home was at the mouth of Leading Creek. Their son, William F. Wilson, representing the third generation of the American family, was born in Hamp- shire County, West Virginia. He was a pioneer in Bar- bour County and was associated with the first to lay the foundations of economic prosperity in this region. He owned the land upon which Philippi was located and much other property besides. He perpetuated the reputation of his family as a mill owner. His forebears were the pioneer mill-builders of Barbour County. The second mill erected in Randolph County was built by his uncle, Col. Benjamin Wilson, and the first mill on Bill's Creek was placed there by Moses Wilson. William F. Wilson built the second mill on that scene. His brother, John, erected a horse- power mill six and a half miles southeast of Philippi. One mill near Belington was built by William P. Wilson, and he built the first mill and carding machine at Philippi, about 1818. He did not stop public improvement and internal development with mill building, since he is credited with having constructed the first wagon road in Barbour County east of the river, a road some seven miles long, extending from Philippi to Bill's Creek. This road was built at a cost of about 75 cents a rod. William F. Wilson married Jane Booth, daughter of Daniel Booth, who lived on Bill's Creek. Their children were: Isaiah, Asher, Almond, Maria, Lewis, Albert, Daniel, Granger, Alpheus, Sarah Jane, Rezin B. and Eugenus. The daughter Sarah Jane was three times married, her husbands being William M. Simpson, Henson L. Yoke and Sabeus Maine. The representative of the fourth generation was Isaiah Wilson, who was born in what was then Randolph County, now Barbour County, in 1810. He died there in 1891. With only such educational advantages as could be acquired at home by private study he equipped himself for the profession of land surveyor, and did that work through nearly all his active years. He was a democrat in politics. Isaiah Wilson married Deborah Yoke, whose father, John Yoke, was of German ancestry and a farmer. Deborah Yoke was born near Belington in Barbour County and died in 1885, at the age of sixty. Her children were: Exerxes, who died in Butler County, Kansas, in 1873; Albert G., who was in business as a saddler at Philippi, where he died; Winfield Scott; and Reason, who became a physician and died at Hutchinson, Kansas, in 1895. Winfield Scott Wilson was born March 12, 1849, four miles from Philippi, in the Philippi District. From the age of four years he lived in the town of Philippi, where he attended the public schools. He was associated with his father on the farm, later became a clerk, and as a com- mercial traveler he represented the S. L. Delaplain Son and Company of Wheeling four years. After he left the road he was engaged in business on his own account as a merchant from 1873 to 1901. After twenty-eight years in directing his own business he again resumed work on the road for Delaplain Son and Company and then with John A. Horner of Baltimore, and covered a portion of West Virginia as his territory four years. After severing his connection with the Baltimore house, Mr. Wilson retired from business and went back to the farm. At different times he has handled some contracts for grading and ex- cavating on public works. Mr. Wilson comes of a democratic family. He partici- pated in his first campaign as a voter in 1872, when he gave his ballot to Horace Greeley, and for fifty years has steadily supported the democratic nominees. Mr. Wilson was twice a member of the City Council of Philippi, is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, is a past grand in the Lodge of Odd Fellows, and his membership in that order dates back fifty years and he is entitled to the Order's Jewel for that honor. He is the only surviv- ing member of the Philippi Encampment of the Odd Fel- lows. He is a past chancellor and a member of thirty years standing in the Knights of Pythias, and has sat in the Grand Lodge of both these Orders. In Barbour County in April, 1875, Mr. Wilson married Miss Nannie Townsend, daughter of Isaac Baker Town- send. She died in 1876, leaving two children. Zona is the wife of Judge Warren B. Kittle of Philippi, and they have three children: Virginia, who married Walter Metz, and they have a son, Harry; Nellie, who married Sherman Lindsay, cashier of the Peoples Bank at Philippi, and George W. Kittle. Ernest is a civil engineer living at Philippi. In April, 1878, Mr. Wilson married, also in Barbour County, Miss Martha Zinn, daughter of Cornelius Zinn, who married a Miss Rogers. Mrs. Wilson was born in Barbour County, one of a family of three sons and five daughters. The only child born to the second marriage was Kemper, who died in 1881, at the age of two years.